Rooted and Grounded part 2
In order to test the height, and depth, and length, and breadth of God's love for us we have to first be rooted and grounded in love. And then we have to understand that we test it... by using it. I really think the greatest (but possibly scariest) part about love is that you experience love... by loving. You "get it" (in a sense) by giving it away. By sharing it. And that's not something you can do unless you know and believe that you're connected to the source. Love isn't just something we have, love is who we are. Love lives in us because Jesus lives in us. And we live in love because we live in Him. It starts with love and it ends with love. That's what it means that Jesus is the Alpha and Omega. But for today I want to talk about staying power. I want to talk about our confidence even when things don't seem to be going our way. Our good cheer in times of tribulation. And in order to do it, I want to quote Matthew 13:20-21 in the New Living Translation. But just as sometimes the best way to understand the Bible is to see what it DOESN'T say, today I'm going to show a negative in order to explain the positive. "The seed on the rocky soil represents those who hear the message and immediately receive it with joy. But since they don't have deep roots, they don't last long. They fall away as soon as they have problems or are persecuted for believing God's word." I don't know why, but it seems like we want to blame God for all the bad things that happen, and we want to take credit for all the good things that happen. First and foremost, we shouldn't be judging by appearance in the first place. We shouldn't be judging according to "good and evil." We should be judging righteous judgment. Executing the judgment that was passed down three days after the cross when the Father raised the Son from death. The abundant, eternal, everlasting, Resurrection Life sentence that is the judgment of God. And second of all, we need to understand that ALL THINGS work together for good. The only way to get off the crazy train, the roller coaster of emotions where we're high as a kite when things are "good" and hit rock bottom when things are "bad" is to be rooted and grounded. In love. When we stand on the Rock we will not be shaken. No matter what happens. We can go with the flow when we understand that God's love flows out of us like a river of living water. And we can understand that no matter what the situation is... love is the answer. So instead of running around like a chicken with its head cut off, we can simply look inside and draw from the well of salvation with joy. We can fill ourselves with the fulness of God and let His love overflow out of us. The outflowing, or outworking, of the indwelling Spirit. Remember Proverbs 22:6? "Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it." When we have that root... no matter what else happens THAT'S what we fall back on. If you think God is all about religion, and doing what you're told you'll fall away at the first opportunity. But if you know that God is all about relationship--the Father loveth the Son and hath given all things into His hand--then you have something to hold onto. Something to keep you steady when the wind blows. Solid ground to stand on. You're both rooted AND grounded in His love for you. And then you won't fall away. Then you can't even be shaken!